LE CURE^ PEAR. 



Le Cuke^. Bon Jardinier, 1836. 



Vicar of Winkfield, < 



Monsieur le Cure', \ Hort. Soc. Catalogue, 3d Ed. 1842. 



Dumas, ) 



Clion, Kenrick's New Am. Orchardisi. 



Monsieur, 'I 



Belle Heloise, (incorrecily,) \ c t,i i n n ^• 



' -^ ' - of some rrench Collections. 



Belle de Berry _ 



Pater Notte, / 



Burgermeester, (incorrectly.) Book of Fruits, 1838, No. 67. 



Much confusion exists in regard to the correct 

 jiame of this pear. Poiteau, and other eminent 

 French pomologists, have pronounced it identical 

 with the Saint Lezain, an old and well known 

 variety in France, where it has been cultivated 

 for more than half a century; but, in all the 

 principal collections, it is now known as Le Cure, 

 or Mons. Le Cure, from its having been found in 

 I^^V...^^ the woods by M. Clion, a French curate. Ee- 

 \l cently, the London Horticultural Society, in their 



"' Catalogue for 1842, have called it the Vicar of 



Winkfield, from the circumstance of a tree growing in his garden, re- 

 ceived from France, having first produced fruit in England. We have 

 been induced to adopt the Society's catalogue as authority in nomencla- 

 ture ; but, in this and some other instances where there are gross errors, 

 we cannot consent to perpetuate them. After a careful investigation of 

 the subject, and the examination of many trees, we beheve that the 

 venerable Poiteau was right in considering it identical with the Saint 

 Lezain ; but, as time is required to render this positive, we adopt the 

 name, every where known in France, of Le Cm^e. 



No pear is more variable in its form than this, and this has given rise 

 to the numerous synonymes. In favorable soils and seasons, it is a 

 very excellent pear. Its great merits are the vigor of the tree, — its broad 

 and deep green foliage, — its immense productiveness, — the large size of 

 the fruit, — its long keeping, — and, at all times, its excellence as a bak- 

 ing pear. It bears early, and succeeds admirably upon the quince. 



Tree. — Veiy vigorous, generally upright in habit, the annual shoots 

 often irregular and spreading, and occasionally drooping. 



Wood. — Brownish olive, with large, prominent, grayish specks, stout, 

 and rather short-jointed; old wood dull grayish olive; buds medium 

 size, obtuse, and little flattened : Flower-buds, large, obovate. 



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